Shards of the Past
by WinterSky101's Old Stuff
Summary: Fang Ride was NOT the emotional type. But even though he wanted to run from the sobs coming from Iggy's room, he couldn't. He owed it to his brother to help. Companion to First Steps. Takes place right after the flock escapes the School.


**Me: This is a companion to First Steps. You might want to read that first.**

**Iggy: If you don't want to, here's a little note: according to this, I lost my sight right before the flock escaped the School.**

**Me: This is about a week after First Steps. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. If I did, I'd make Fang show his softer side more and I'd have more about Iggy.**

Fang Ride was _not_ the emotional type. That's why the ten year old boy felt an overwhelming urge to run as far away as he could when he hear the quiet sobs coming from Iggy's room. Sadly, however, he and Iggy were the only ones in the house and Max would kill him if she found out she left Iggy alone when he was crying. Ever since they had escaped from the school, Iggy had become Max's favorite. She was always with him, trying to help him get around by himself or learn to fight without seeing. That left Angel to Jeb most of the time and Fang had to take care of Gazzy and Nudge. It wasn't that hard, not really. Jeb was always there to help out when he needed it. But it was kind of annoying. They were a flock. And Fang missed hanging out with Max. Now she was always with Iggy.

But that little internal rant wasn't helping the problem. Iggy was still crying and Max would still kill him if she found out. Fang heaved a sigh and opened the door.

Iggy was sitting in the corner of his room in a small ball, tears streaming down his pale face. "Ig?" Fang asked. The boy jumped.

"F-Fang?" Iggy furiously wiped away the tears. "I-Is that you?"

"Yeah, man. What's going on?"

Iggy's defiant eyes were staring out in Fang's general direction. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong."

Fang gave Iggy a look, then remembered he was blind and couldn't see it. "I never asked if anything was wrong." Iggy glared and Fang had to hold back a chuckle.

"Come on. Let's go get something to eat."

"We're not supposed to," Iggy argued. "We need to ration our food until we have a place where we can get it steadily."

"I know we're not supposed to." Fang grinned. "That's why we're going to."

Iggy's blind eyes were somehow able to scrutinize Fang's face. A shiver went through the dark-haired boy's back. This was creepy…

"What are you on?" Iggy asked.

"What?" Fang asked, confused. This was random…

"What are you on?" Iggy repeated. "You're smiling. You almost laughed. Don't try and contradict me, I heard you. And now you want to break the rules?" Iggy put out his hand with a fake serious expression on his face. "Hand the drugs over."

Fang rolled his eyes. "I'm not on drugs. Anyway, what drugs do we have in the house anyway? NyQuil?" **(AN: My tribute to St Fang of Boredom)**

Iggy shrugged. "You probably could get addicted to NyQuil. I bet it would make you high."

Fang sighed. "Why were you crying?"

Iggy froze in place as he was getting up. "I…I…"

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Fang replied. "But it might help if you do." Inside, Fang was cringing. He did _not_ want to know why Iggy was crying. He didn't want to know the gruesome details of the experiment. But he did want to comfort the slightly younger bird-kid. So he would be a good listener.

"I don't want to tell you," Iggy replied shortly. He struggled to his feet. "Is there anything in front of me?"

Fang slid a box out of the way. "Nope. Five steps to the door." Iggy left the room and took a few steps forward before he tripped. Although he had been taking unaided steps for about a week now, he still stumbled a lot. Fang didn't get there in time to catch him, so Iggy's hands flew out to catch himself. He knocked over a vase and fell into the shards. Fang ran over.

"You okay, Iggy?" he asked. The boy didn't respond. Fang shook him gently. "Iggy?" he repeated.

"Go away." Iggy's voice was muffled as he curled up in a ball in the middle of the hallway.

"Iggy, get up. You can't lie down in the middle of the hallway."

"Why not?" the other boy demanded, still not looking up at Fang. "I'm useless. Why shouldn't I just stay here?"

"Ig, what's wrong?" Fang moved over to Iggy's other side. His hands had many little pieces of glass in them. "Iggy, you're bleeding." Iggy's legs were also stuck with some larger pieces of glass.

Iggy's face went pale. "No. I can't get blood on me. No. No!"

"Iggy!" Fang almost yelled. "Snap out of it!"

The other boy was shaking and muttering quietly. Fang bent down to hear him. "So much blood…so much blood…so much blood…"

"Iggy, what's wrong?" Fang asked quietly. Iggy didn't answer, just kept on muttering. "Answer me!" he demanded. Iggy jumped.

"D-during the experiment, I got covered in blood. I-I can't stand it. I feel so _weak_, Fang. What did I trip over anyway?" Iggy's voice grew bitter. "It was my own feet, wasn't it?" He seemed to take Fang's silence as a yes and his voice grew even more bitter. "I tripped over my own feet. I can't do anything. You should just leave me here."

Fang opened his mouth to respond when he heard the door open. "Be right back," he whispered to Iggy as he got up, nimbly avoided the shards, and ran to the front door. It was Jeb.

"Iggy tripped and broke the vase," Fang said quickly. "He's got lots of glass in his hands." Jeb didn't need another word to rush after Fang to the younger boy.

"Iggy?" Jeb asked quietly. "Iggy, can you get up?" Iggy shook his head. Jeb looked at Fang. With a sigh, the slightly older boy helped his brother up and half-carried him to the bathroom. Iggy sat on the edge of the bathtub while Jeb grabbed some tweezers.

"Iggy, you have glass in your hands. I need to get it out. It might hurt." Iggy's face was drawn, but he nodded. Jeb gently pulled out a shard of glass. Iggy bit down hard on his lower lip. Fang felt increasing nausea as Jeb pulled the glass out and blood flowed freely over Iggy's hands. He went over to the cabinet and grabbed gauze. Band-aids wouldn't work; there was too much.

Jeb got all the glass out of one of Iggy's hands and held his hand out for the gauze. Fang handed it to him. First, Jeb wiped the blood off Iggy's hand with a paper towel. Then he gently wrapped the gauze over the bleeding hand. Jeb repeated the entire process with his other hand, then pulled the glass out of Iggy's legs and bandaged them. When he was almost finished, the door opened again. Fang went back to the door to see Max and the rest of the flock in the doorway.

"Iggy's in the bathroom. He had a little incident with the vase." Max immediately started to walk to the bathroom, then stopped. She leaned over and kissed Fang on the cheek.

"Thanks for watching him," she said quietly and left as Fang's cheeks burned. Angel giggled.

"You be quiet," Fang snapped playfully. He herded the three younger children into the living room.

Maybe being a little emotional wasn't that bad after all.

**Me: FANGLES GOT A KISS!**

**Iggy: Sigh.**

**Me: You ended the other one with a sigh too.**

**Iggy: That's all that I can say to this. Sigh.**


End file.
